Posts tagged ‘flickr’

I have always thought it would be fun to have a Photo Gallery of post-craft hand pictures. Like the time I was using a knife to carve into wax and cut into my thumb but there was a bunch of wax in the cut so it didn’t bleed (OK maybe not that one). Or after making my magazine coasters how I had a ton of dried glue all over me. It’s sort of like the hand picture could be a project in itself.

Well, these hands are dyed with fabric dye. Really really badly. This summer’s craft at Vacation Bible School (which I did not pick but was left in charge of executing) was to tie dye 50 kids’ shirts in five 20 minute long groups. Let’s just say that after changing my gloves 15 times only to find a new hole in all of the available pairs I gave up on the gloves and went for the bare-hand approach.  The only way to recover from hands this blackened is to go swimming in a chlorinated pool, by the way.

So, if you have some crazy hands after a project consider taking a picture. And if you do, let us know you did it by posting the pictures in our Flickr pool.

I first discovered Iris Folding through a library book.   It took a long time to understand the instructions, but I figured it out and made tons of Christmas Tree cards that year!  Iris Folding has a learning curve, and after that, each project still takes awhile.  For that reason I make fewer greeting cards and more frame-worthy projects.  Plus, after learning the traditional methods I decided to be less rigid with my style.  I prefer more random color patterns & less calculated placements of each paper, and I don’t care for the “Iris” shape in the center.  Plus, for this project I’m using paint chip samples, which if I folded them, they’d be way too thick!  So, this project is inspired by Iris Folding, but if you’d like to see the original methods, I recommend the book 460 Iris Folded Cards to Make: The Complete Iris Folded Compendium.  And for more images & inspiration, check out the Flickr Iris Folding Handmade Cards Group.

Here are instructions to make this tree, along with a free original pattern.

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Potato Stamped Curtains by Diber

We had some new photos added to our stream by readers this past week. They are so Fall Wonderful I had to share them with you. This first photo is from a long-time cyber friend of mine who goes by Diber. She says that these curtains were one of those OMG-I-Have-To-Make-This-Right-Now projects. She made the potato stamps and went to town. She suggests using a roller for the ink in order to get a more even application. I like the uneven handmade look of how it turned out.

I want to switch my kitchen colors to more warm tones for fall/winter and I think I might use these curtains as inspiration. I might take the pattern over to some custom made hand towels as well.

Earrings by Katie Earley

This second photo is of two pairs of earrings made by reader Katie Earley for her Mom’s birthday. I love the earrings, which look very similar in construction to Colleen’s Beginner Earring Tutorial, and I LOVE the packaging. The fall tones in the earrings are picked up and accented with the photo of wellies in the cardstock holder. The paper came from an advertising brochure and the composition is just wonderful. I would be thrilled to receive a gift like this.

Good morning, Nesters. I just wanted to point out that we have a new page called Nest Interactive. Most of our readers are already involved with Twitter and regularly reading, but we are always striving to make this place more accessible and Nest Interactive lists all the ways you can be more plugged in. As the Nest grows, you can expect to see the opportunities for involvement to grow with it.

Check that page out and keep your eye out for our guest bloggers. If you are interested in being a guest blogger, you should definitely check it out, we want to hear how you are living creatively and simply.

The fabulous magazine “Where Women Create” showcases the studios of all types of women-artists, musician, writers, and business women.  While my studio or yours may possibly never make the magazine, I thought it’d be fun for our readers to share our studios with each other.  

All you have to do is upload your photos to our flickr group, and we’ll choose some of our favorite studios to feature during the first week of June.  Let us know any tips you have for organization, good lighting (maybe your studio is in the basement), or anything else that helps your creative flow!

Here, I’ll go first with a sneak peek of my space.  This is my yarn, magazine, bead, paint, & flower area.  My newest organization detail is the recycled clementine orange crates I used to stack my paint.  Devona uses these crates in her kitchen which gave me the idea.  They stack really well.

Don’t forget to add your craft photos to our Flickr Pool. We really want to see what you are making out there and post about your creative genius. But we can’t do it unless you share!

Today I picked this photo from reader, and good friend Ellie, which she uploaded to our Pool. I love the Yo-Yo and the umbrella together. It just reminds me of spring and April Showers bring May Flowers. I need to (want to) make a new bag for spring and this makes me want to embellish it with Yo-Yos. Too bad I don’t have such adorable buttons to accent them with. Ellie found those in a drawer in the house she moved into. What a lucky find!